"Britney Spears will not be performing at the VMAs this year. I'm telling you officially and unequivocally," Ryan Seacrest quoted her manager, Larry Rudolph, as saying on his KIIS-FM radio show Monday morning.

Rudolph told Seacrest that Spears "is in the middle of recording her next album, which is going amazingly well, and was never supposed to perform at that show." (Listen to Seacrest make the announcement.)

The possibility of Spears performing had been rumored for weeks. (Her hair stylist Kim Vo even told E! News that he was creating three VMA looks for the singer, hinting that one of the 'dos was for her performance.)